Electronic tags are used today to conduct various financial transactions. For instance, the Mobil® division of ExxonMobil Corporation sponsors a program called SPEEDPASS® whereby a customer can purchase gas and other goods and services by activating a system with a tag containing a transponder, where the tag is associated with some source of the customer's funds which are used to pay for the purchase. The tag may be kept on a keyring, and is waved in front of a detector to activate the system.
Another popular, rapidly growing use of electronic tags is in Electronic Toll Collection (“ETC”) systems including E-Z PASS,® GEORGIA CRUISE CARD,® SUNPASS,® EPASS,® and FASTRAK,® among others, which allow a motorist to electronically charge a toll for using certain roadways without having to physically stop at a tollbooth to pay the toll. ETC systems are a part of the technology known as Intelligent Transportation Systems (“ITS”) fostered by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (“ITSA”), a society composed of private and public members which was mandated by the United States Congress in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (“ISTEA”) to coordinate the development and deployment of intelligent transportation systems in the United States. ETC systems enhance the safety, capacity, and efficiency of the tollway systems in this country, as well as improve customer service and satisfaction. In addition, ETC systems improve air quality by reducing the number of vehicles which sit at idle speed at tollbooths.
The users of these tags generally associate a prefunded account to serve as a source of funds to pay for charges made with their tags, where the prefunded account balance is referred to as the “float.” These prefunded accounts are maintained by the ETC system operator, who invests the account balances and makes a profit off this “float.” The user may automatically replenish the prefunded account by instructing the system to charge additional “float” to an individual checking, savings, or credit card account or other source of funds that is associated with the tag when the prefunded account balance reaches a low limit, or the user may manually replenish the prefunded account balance.
ETC systems operate by detecting some tag identification information associated with the tag using some type of sensor as the motorist passes through a tollbooth or otherwise activates the sensor and determining which prefunded account is associated with that tag. Tag identification information may be contained in bar coded labels, which are placed on the vehicle and detected by laser scanners at the tollbooth. Alternatively, tag identification information may be transmitted via an RF or IR or other type of transponder located in the tag, where the emitted signal is read by a reader/antenna located at the tollbooth. Often the tags are intended to be attached to the motorist's front windshield or side window by some type of adhesive, and are, for the most part, contained in generic plastic casings which many consider unattractive to display.
When the tag identification information is detected by a scanner or reader/antenna at a tollbooth, the prefunded account associated with that tag is debited the amount of the corresponding toll or charge. Annual toll revenues for the nation's toll roads which use ETC systems easily exceed one billion dollars a year,1 so enrollment of users in the nation's ETC systems contemplates a significant “float” potentially to be held by ETC systems operators. 1 According to data compiled during the years of 1996 through 1999 by the ETTM, a component of the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). See www.ettm.com/usafac.html.
Some potential ETC users currently do not enroll in the systems because they do not want to leave their money in the prefunded account where they lose the use of the account balance, and where they are committed to spending the prefunded account balance with the ETC system operator. Further, as noted, the tags currently used are considered plain and unattractive, which may lead some motorists not to mount the tags on their windshields, creating a safety hazard as those motorists fumble to find the tag to pay the toll.